Be Patient Or You'll Be A Patient At The Hospital

By the way, for Reyna, even after her father, for her, Jason was the only safe boy. She trusted him.

By the way, Jason believed in Reyna so much that he left a message for her.

By the way, Reyna trusted Jason so much that she left Octavian and the legion to go to him. Even if they were enemy.

By the way, their relationship was so important because they were family. But Jason died, and Reyna didn't even flinch.

No he’s not incompetent, he’s not dumb, he’s not lucky, he’s not angsty, he’s not shy, he’s not dead without Hermione, on the contrary, everyone would be dead without him, he’s the one that defeated Voldemort in the first place??? And immediately became an auror after??? Without training??? Head auror, mind you???

He’s desired to be an auror ever since he learned about the job. He’d never settle down and do something as boring and uneventful as being a teacher or move to the countryside away from the magical life. He wouldn’t feel fulfilled, he’d be miserable and feel useless.

He’s powerful and smart and sarcastic and snarky and angry and a hell of a planner, yes, he’s a planner. A very good one under pressure in fact. Everyone looks to him for guidance. Neville followed his orders to kill nagini without question because he knew anything that Harry ordered had a good reason.

People feared him, people looked up to him. Even Hermione has had moments where she’s gotten scared of him. He’s scary.

He has a hero complex, but hates being in the spotlight for it. He literally commented on this in book four and six. He’d much rather have people talk about his quidditch skills or his relationship with Ginny. Something that makes him happy or that he’s good at.

He wondered why Dumbledore didn’t give him the prefect position, even felt jealousy and resentment and embarrassment at what the people from Gryffindor would think, but didn’t comment on it and rather felt guilt at being a bad friend to Ron and opted towards congratulating him and not showing his feelings as to not take his moment. He’s humble and caring and loves with everything in him. He’s the epitome of good.

He forgave Ron immediately after making up, settling on rather having his friend back and talking than holding a grudge. He immediately forgave Hermione after she told McGonagall about his firebolt. When he found out about Neville’s parents, he was riddled with guilt and sadness for him, he got angry at himself for never bothering to ask Neville about it.

He’s observant when he wants to be. He’s good at figuring things out. He makes decisions that people condemn him for but in the end it more often than not ends up in his favour. He never felt an issues with using questionable magic as long as it doesn’t affect or hurt anyone else who didn’t deserve it. Remember when he crucio’d a carrow for spitting In McGonagall’s face? Yeah, that’s our Harry.

He could produce a corporal patronus at thirteen. He won the triwizard tournament at fourteen. He taught dumbledore’s army at fifteen. He figured out the scale on which Voldemort was operating and that Draco’s a death eater at sixteen while battling the grief of losing his only family. He’s hunted and destroyed horcruxes and killed the darkest wizard at seventeen.

He could literally throw off the imperius curse. Hello?? He’s the mos resilient man ever. He’s manipulative. He’s dangerous. He’s intractable. The minister in book seven wanted him as a tool, and he saw right through it. He’s only ever driven by his own morals, no one could change that. No one could mold him into what they wanted him to be.

During the final dual with Voldemort, Harry literally asked him to feel remorse. He gave the person who’s ruined his life and took away his loved ones a chance at redemption. That’s Harry James Potter.

Harry Potter is not a stupid, talentless, basking in the glory guy who got lucky with two spells. He’s smart and cunning and ambitious and determined and kind and humble and most of all, good.

Logic: Characters, just like real people, are mallable. There is typically very little that's so truly, heinously out of character that you absolutely cannot make it work under any circumstance. In addition, most fans are also willing to accept characterization stretches if it makes the fic work. Yeah, we all know the villain and the hero wouldn't cuddle for warmth in canon. But if they did do that, how would they do it?

What counts is often not so much 'would the character do this?' and more 'if the character did do this, how would they do it?' If you get 'how' part right, your readers will probably be willing to buy the rest, because it will still feel like their favourite character. But if it doesn't feel like the character anymore, why are they even reading the fic?

But it was along the lines of "instead of asking whether something is out of character, ask 'what would it take for this character to do this'"

But while yeah she was absolutely terrible in the heroes of olympus series with the whole kidnapping and erasing peoples memories thing, in tbotl, Rick's writing of Hera is just misogynistic, let's be real

Yes, she has a terrible past with Hercules and even her own son. Funnily enough, the other gods who show up to offer help in their missions aren't criticized that harshly for their past actions, but more so for the role they're playing currently in the story. And in this book? Hera is helping them a lot, actually. And she doesn't even need the mission to involve clearing her name or getting her sister back or trying to convince her son to change his mind; she's doing it bc it benefits the camp, which benefits the gods, and it's strategically wise to do so.

And I do think that at least one of the things she's criticized for doesn't really make that much sense.

Percy gets mad at her for not paying to get Nico free passage through Geryon's ranch. Well, why would Hera know about Nico's whereabouts? Percy keeps Nico's father a secret from everyone until Nico uses his powers at the end of this book. At the time that Hera was paying for their safe travel, Nico wasn't part of their mission, and she had no reason to know he was a son of Hades, or to keep tabs on him and know he was there.

From what we know about Hera, it actually would've made more sense for her to ensure he wouldn't be taken to the titan army if she knew about him and his parentage, bc she's concerned about the war, and isn't really the type to waste the opportunity of getting a powerful ally to their side, least of all to give him freely to the enemy.

But at this point in the story, it makes more sense for her to not know about him at all, so there's no reason for us or Percy to get mad at her for not going out of her way to ensure no one was left behind! She was helping them in their mission, and Nico wasn't part of it. As much as I love to see Percy getting mad at her on Nico's behalf, this scene, to me, shouldn't exist. After all, did we get mad at Poseidon in the first book for only giving Percy three pearls to get out of the underworld, despite Percy planning to save Sally too?

(The circumstances were a bit different; they likely wouldn't have been able to get her out without Hades' explicit permission, but whatever, if they did, there wouldn't be a fourth pearl to give her, and yet the story knows there's no point in getting mad at Poseidon for this)

And did the narrative or the characters criticize Apollo that harshly in ttc when he didn't care about Annabeth's fate?? Did Percy end this book on bad terms with him?

Did Thalia ever mention Halcyon Green's story to Percy in that book? Or were we allowed to form a more positive opinion of Apollo based on his current actions?

I'm not saying Hera wasn't a jerk in her conversation with Percy and Annabeth. But Rick was making the narrative particularly critical of her for no good reason.

She congratulates them on completing the mission to save the camp. Which they did

But then Rick makes Annabeth go out of her way to refute this. Which??? I'm gonna be honest, this is not the type of stuff you usually discuss with a god, unless it's one you're more familiar with, like Percy with his father or Hermes, for example. Otherwise, Hera's dismissive answer is exactly the type of response you would expect. And why wouldn't she say this? Luke committed many crimes, and so did Daedalus, so much so that he was cursed by Athena, and he was already cheating death anyway. Hera wasn't close to them; why would she care about their deaths? Saying that they are better off gone is one of the nicest things she could've said.

And Pan??? He was already dead; he just hadn't faded completely bc of the satyrs. They couldn't have saved him anyway; they didn't fail him at all.

This is definitely the kind of moment where Percy might not appreciate her comment, but much like he did with Apollo, he would take a deep breath and understand that, yeah, gods are like that.

Of course you could say, well, Annabeth cared about both, and she was having an emotional moment about this just before Hera showed up, it makes sense for her to get mad at her.

But then, if Annabeth is going to be the only one Hera is going to get back at for this (with the whole thing about cows following her around), at least let her be the one who really argues with her, instead of mostly just agreeing with Percy. And let the narrative not agree entirely with her as well! Daedalus killed a child, and Luke tried to do so many times too; I mean, in this book alone he sent demigods to be killed for entertainment and caused his younger brother to go mad in the labyrinth. It's not unreasonable to not feel really that bad for either of them.

But then again!!!! Did they really need to fight her over this??? All this started bc she was congratulating them and later asking for offerings. But did anyone get mad at the gods in the last book when they were all partying hours after Zoe's death, Luke's supposed death and after losing Bianca in the mission too? Were any of them arguing with anyone who congratulated them on their mission?

Hera's kind of an asshole, sure, BUT SHE SAVED THEIR LIVES MULTIPLE TIMES AND THEY LIKELY WOULD NOT HAVE SURVIVED WITHOUT HER HELP. Being that dismissive of her is not only unwise, but genuinely unfair.

She got rid of Janus for them, paid so they wouldn't have to fight Geryon (even if they did end up doing so, once again, WITH HER HELP tho I have Opinions about the idea that Artemis and Apollo wouldn't have helped Percy in that moment — you can't make me fall for this propaganda), and she saved Percy's life by getting him to Ogigia to be cared for by Calypso, not to mention the fact that she was the one who gave them a tip about Percy knowing the answer to how to navigate the labyrinth and then sent them to Hephaestus to help them realize what it was. And once again, her comment about Nico? It's her only crime, and it doesn't even make sense for her to commit it, Rick just wanted her to look bad. God forbid a GODDESS with a controversial past gets some good pr in these books, as opposed to the many GODS with controversial pasts that get great pr in these books, right?

Also, important to notice that Hera was already being very tolerant with them, considering Rick makes Annabeth be honestly kinda disrespectful to her in their first encounter.

(Hera had already left when Annabeth said that, obviously)

Hera was offering them a wish, which she wasn't obliged to do; it's not her fault Annabeth chose something they already had. But her tip about Percy knowing the answer was useful anyway. It's more than what they had going into this mission. Sure, Hera's answer was frustrating but that's how the gods operate. And she was right; getting something and having the wits to use it are two different things. Not to mention, it's a really nice quote. Annabeth is letting her frustration get in her way, and being very entitled. Hera could've gotten mad at her over this, but she lets it slide and just gives her some food for thought. She's being low-key nice most of the time in this book, and being repeatedly disrespected in return.

Just thinking about how Reyna kept her distance from Jason because of Venus, fearing heartbreak, but ended up getting heartbroken anyway.

Just thinking about how Jason felt guilty about Reyna's feelings for him, thinking that he led her on, and felt truly sorry that he didn't love her back.

Just thinking about how bitter Reyna sounded when she said that Jason was no longer fully roman anymore.

Just thinking about how, upon seeing Thalia's eyes, the only thing Reyna can think of is Jason's startling blue stare.

Just thinking about how Jason could tell that Reyna was tired simply by noting how her shoulders move.

Just thinking about how Reyna rarely compliments anyone, but fondly calls Jason an "all American boy".

Just thinking about how Jason would never bet against Reyna under any circumstances, and knows if anyone is capable of completing dangerous missions, it's Reyna.

Just thinking about how Reyna daydreamt of her and Jason holding hands, walking in the garden.

Just thinking about how Reyna and Jason would geek over their shared interest of roman history.

Just thinking about how Jason HATES unkept promises, yet the only unkept promise he'd unintentionally made was that if he and Reyna would go visit Diocletian's sceptre, it would only be them visiting TOGETHER. Not seperately. The fates ruined his chance of keeping that promise.

Just thinking about how Reyna would've felt upon hearing that her once best friend, died tragically saving a god, and that she would never see him again.

Just thinking about how Jason dies with the guilt of not properly reconciling with his old friend.

Just thinking about how Reyna lives with the guilt of keeping her distance from him because of that wretched warning Venus gave her. Maybe if she had not, would they have been together? Would they have atleast remained best friends? Would they have not grown apart?

Just thinking about how Reyna looked like she'd been crying for hours during Jason's funeral.

Just thinking about how they both knew their friendship would never be the same again but refused to confront that bitter reality, so they ran away from it.

Just thinking about how they never even shared one last hug together.

Just thinking about how in the end, both of them most likely only had bittersweet memories of eachother, and that neither of them got to say their final goodbyes.

happy salt air and the rust on your door month to all those who celebrate